MJF believes AEW is the ‘better alternative’ to WWE
Former World Champion MJF cannot think of a better alternative to WWE than AEW.
Following a dominance in the pro-wrestling world for decades, WWE was met with solid competition in 2019, when Tony Khan started AEW. With help from Cody Rhodes, The Young Bucks, and Adam Page, AEW emerged as one of the biggest alternatives to WWE in mainstream wrestling.
Recently, speaking to TV Insider, MJF was asked if AEW was recently receiving a particularly high interest from WWE fans because of the ‘high ticket prices and the treatment of talent.’
“I think it’s a combination of things. With love and respect, I’ve got no issue with WWE or TKO. I’m sure people are going to say, ‘Oh, an AEW wrestler talking about WWE.’ It’s an interview, you schmucks. I’m asked about it, so I’m going to answer the question. Yeah, a lot of people who work there aren’t particularly happy. People are taking pay cuts. The show right now, to each their own, but to a lot of people right now, pretty disenchanted with the product,” he said.
“I think they have an insane amount of talent there. They have a proven track record of doing incredible business, but I think people are so ready for an alternative. I can’t think of a better alternative than All Elite Wrestling, probably in the history of any sport. Dude, the thing is this, we had a black eye on us because there was so much bulls**t that went down. I don’t need to get into it, but the year 2026, every Dynamite has been incredible, Collision has been incredible, pay-per-view,” MJF added.
“You have the hottest professional wrestler on top…me. I’ll give Darby Allin his credit, even though I hate his stupid face. He is putting on easily the best matches, but also doing it twice a week on all our major flagship shows. He is putting on better matches than any other place you watch professional wrestling. So do other guys on the roster. Now, am I a match guy personally? Not necessarily. I’m a win guy. I’m a money guy. I’m a sell-tickets guy. I’m going to get people to buy a pay-per-view guy, but I’m not going to sit here and pretend that we don’t have superior wrestling. Whether that’s weekly shows or pay-per-views, which nobody can touch. Nobody has touched or will ever touch on these,” he finished.
MJF comments on what could take AEW to the next level
In the same interview with TV Insider, MJF was further asked about his thoughts on what could take All Elite Wrestling to the ‘next level.’
“I think it’s literally happening right now. Year over year in most markets we’ve sold more tickets. This year we’ve done more pay-per-view buys. We’re hot right now, when I hear people ask how we can get bigger, the answer is time baby,” he shared.
The former World Champion further claimed that while WWE and TNA have been around for several years now, AEW is relatively young and wants fans to give them time to grow.
Shounak Chakrabarti is an experienced sports journalist with a lifelong passion for athletics and storytelling. He holds a Master’s Degree in International Journalism from the University of Leeds and joined F4WOnline in 2025.
Shounak takes particular interest in soccer, closely following top clubs like Real Madrid and Arsenal. Beyond sports, he enjoys fiction writing, photography, gaming, and cinema.